As a person looking to enter the job market, it is not easy to find a career path that is not only long-lasting but also fulfilling and rewarding. Hitting all of these markers that make for an exciting career can be challenging in today’s job market.
This is where the bootcamp industry positions itself, as the bridge that connects tech newcomers and career opportunities in an industry that is robust and resilient. However, most coding bootcamps seek to prepare talents for roles that require programming skills. What about those who are not interested in coding? Highway Education may just be the answer.
It is a bootcamp that prepares students with digital marketing skills, and even more specifically, with a focus on marketing operations. Digital marketing is proven to be a flourishing field and is projected to grow by six percent in the next eight years, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics. For those looking for a challenging, fulfilling career that sits at the cross-section of data, business, and creativity, marketing operations is an exciting option with lots of potentials.
What Is Digital Marketing?
Digital marketing is a term that covers all elements of marketing through the digital space, but one of the most essential parts of what makes digital marketing work is the marketing operations branch.
Technology has changed how people buy things and how companies acquire and turn prospects into customers. It used to be more sales-driven, but the advent of marketing automation started changing that.
As the world shifts towards more digital mindsets, a company’s strength is often measured by the strength of its tech stack and marketing capabilities. The marketing industry has shifted massively because of new technologies and has largely transferred to the digital realm. Because of this, the demand for savvy digital marketing experts is growing and is expected to continue growing.
There are multiple facets to an online purchase or subscription that are not really visible to the average consumer. What makes a product or service appealing? What drives traffic to a company’s website? What compels a customer to make an online purchase or subscription? The answer to these questions is the result of the business-to-consumer kind of marketing that a marketing operations person is responsible for.
Tracking emails, sending out coupons, figuring out what the target audience is for different products—there is a myriad of different tools and techniques that you may not even be privy to as a consumer.
What Is Marketing Operations?
Marketing operations is a branch of marketing that requires a broad and diverse set of skills. It’s a team that combines technology with practical execution in a marketing arm of a company. It’s about enabling marketing and sales to bring in revenue to a company.
If the marketing team is a car, marketing operations is the engine that makes the car work. Marketing operations teams configure systems and data to track and measure everything and understand what’s working to bring money into a company, and what’s not. From there, they can pull levers and experiment to increase the sales and success of a company.
Both business-to-consumer and business-to-business company models require a lot of data and technology to identify the customers, increase the outreach, communicate, and direct them towards the product or service that the company is selling. This is what the marketing ops team does: collect data, analyze it, and identify which techniques are working and which aren’t.
Because marketing operations is a largely tech-based career, the requirements needed are as ever-evolving as technology is. Marketing ops employees must keep pace with cutting-edge technology and marketing techniques.
Job Prospects
Highway Education has identified a large gap in the marketing industry. There’s a gulf between young, talented, and underemployed people looking for exciting employment, and marketing ops teams that are in great need of eager, intelligent, savvy, entry-level marketing ops employees.
Many people in the field with first-hand experience say that digital marketing, and specifically marketing ops, is a growing industry that offers room for exciting career advancement, and is a great direction to steer your career in.
Digital marketers have also made it into LinkedIn’s 2021 Job on the Rise list, citing a salary range between $48,000 to $96,000. According to the report, “These roles specialize in figuring out how to grab your attention in an already saturated digital world. Hiring for digital marketing roles grew nearly 33 percent year-over-year.”
This indicates that there is a lot of room for growth. Highway Education added that many marketing ops professionals progress through their careers, achieving a management role after five to 10 years of experience and making anywhere between $100,000 to $300,000.
What Can You Learn at Highway Education?
The answer is a slew of in-demand skills that can transform marketing enthusiasts into top-tier professionals. Highway Education’s curriculum is deployed synchronously, meaning that students will be on video with their peers and educators throughout the day. They will participate in live lectures as well as hands-on practical activities, exercises, and projects to come out of the bootcamp with solid proof of their marketing ops knowledge.
Highway Education Curriculum
The bootcamp is focused exclusively on marketing operations. The curriculum is both practical and theoretical, covering a wide range and breadth of topics and tools to put students at a great advantage when applying for jobs.
Students can expect to cover: Introduction to Marketing and Marketing Operations, Business Skills 101, High-Level Marketing Strategy, Intro to Analytics, Data and Targeting, Marketing to Sales Stack + Campaign Planning and Execution, Lead Flow and Management, and Advanced Marketing Operations.
Within each of these courses are several modules breaking down the resources, techniques, technologies, and strategies used by marketing operations in their jobs. These topics will set students up with the skills needed to acquire their first marketing ops job, as well as setting them up with the tools to jumpstart a longstanding and evolving career.
Skills That Can Get You the Job
Many of the marketing operations employees in Highway Education’s industry network have commented that it can be difficult to find people who are interested and have the right experience level to hire for entry-level digital marketing jobs. Oftentimes, companies have to train those already holding marketing positions.
ReAnnita Latham of Pedowitz Group revealed, “We don’t have enough people in marketing ops or people who even understand what marketing ops is. The supply is so low that we often steal people from different parts of the business…The career growth aspect s great for people who want to learn it.”
As such, people with a niche in marketing ops are more appealing to recruiters and stand a chance to succeed in the field right off the bat.
Highway Education Career Services and Support Team
Highway Education sets students up with not only the skills to land a job in marketing ops, but the network to actually secure the job. The bootcamp recruits employers who are looking to fill in marketing ops roles and has connections to the industry.
At Highway Education, students are welcome to consult their instructors—who are highly experienced marketing ops professionals—should they face any issues. Additionally, under its mentorship program, students are also paired with a mentor that will keep them in high spirits as they continue to learn the ropes.
Co-Founder and VP of Learning Leigh Oxley said: “We will connect you with some of the brightest minds in the industry to help guide, motivate, and inspire you. These are people we work with over the years, who are now super excited to help our students set goals, make connections, and generally share their wisdom”.
The school also hosts one-on-one check-in sessions throughout the program. This serves as an opportunity for students to get to know the broader team and increase their engagement level with Highway Education.
What Do Marketing Ops Employees Love About Their Job?
Being that marketing ops is a diverse and interdisciplinary field, many people working in marketing ops love the creativity and critical thinking that they exercise when working. The creativity in marketing ops manifests in technical function, so people who are excited by data and technology, but don’t want to only be programming or coding, thrive in this field.
Become a Digital Marketer Through Highway Education
People working in marketing ops report that exercising both the right and left side of the brain, being the translator between IT and the business, and putting a strong technical aptitude to use through business and creativity is very fulfilling.
It’s a collaborative job that requires a lot of critical thinking, problem-solving, and understanding of how systems work. People who are data-driven, tech-savvy, and business-minded are perfect for this role.
If the prospect of a career in marketing ops excites you, you can sign up for an information session here to learn more.
About us: Career Karma is a platform designed to help job seekers find, research, and connect with job training programs to advance their careers. Learn about the CK publication.
